It was the day of the test. Hyunjung had been revising with Taehyung for the past three days and sitting in the class room while their teacher was handing them the paper, she was feeling a mixture of unrelenting nervousness and driven desire to get the test paper she was getting agitated about for days over and done with.

She looked to the back of the classroom where Taehyung was sat. He was getting a pen and pencil out of his pencil case, and sensing that someone watching at him, he looked up and his eyes met with Hyunjung’s. He mouthed ‘you’ll be fine’ at her and a small smile crept up on his lips as if to reassure her – he knew how worried she was from the times they were revising together at lunch and had done anything he could to help her with the topics she was struggling on (including thermodynamics), from assisting her with memorizing equations to flash cards.

Hyunjung reciprocated his smile and turned back to face the front of the class. The test paper was placed facing down on her desk and she stared at it until their teacher finished giving all the students in the class one. Mr Kim looked at the minute hand of the clock.

“You may start.”

The sound of rustling was heard when everyone simultaneously turned their papers over. Hyunjung read the first question:

1] The molar heats of combustion of C₂H_2(g), C (graphite) and H_2(g) are 210.62 Kcal, 84.05 Kcal and 69.32 Kcal respectively. Calculate the standard heat of formation of C₂ H_2(g)

Of course it had to be a damn question about thermodynamics.

She remembered solving one similar like this with Taehyung before who had taught it to her step by step. She flicked through the test paper and quickly read the rest of the questions; they were the type of questions that Taehyung had predicted would be included. Mr Kim looked over her shoulder and was pleasantly surprised when he saw her avidly writing down her workings out and continued to walk down the rows of desks. Taehyung looked up from his test and smiled to himself when he saw Hyunjung hunched over her own.

*  *  *  *  *  *

“And... three, two, one. Turn over your papers.”

The same rustling sound was heard at the start of the hour when everyone at once turned their papers over. You could hear an amalgam of sighs of relief and frustrated groans from the people in the class. Hyunjung had managed to finish all the questions in the paper and hoped she had at least a decent passing score.

Once Mr Kim had collected all the papers, he walked back to the front of the class and observed everyone. “I’ll return your tests back once I finish marking them.”

The class remained in silence. All it took was a subtle nod of his head. “Well done, you’ve all worked hard. You’re dismissed.”

Those words had shaken the class and they all stood up and packed their things away to go away to their last lesson of the day.

Hyunjung went up to Taehyung when they walked out of the class.

“How well did you think you did?” he asked.

“I think I did alright.”

“That’s good to hear.”

She smiled. “All thanks to you.”

They saw Jungkook and Jimin walking out their class when they walked down the hallway. Jimin also saw them and waved. “Hyunjung! Taehyung!”

“Hi!” Hyunjung waved back and Taehyung not having the same reaction as her, merely looked at them. Jimin dragged Jungkook with him up to Hyunjung and Taehyung and walked beside them.

“What class do you have now?” Jungkook asked when they all matched the same pace.

“Geography.”

“I have English.”

Jimin slowed down to briefly check his cell phone and was now walking a pace behind them. “Hey Hyunjung, us and the guys are going somewhere this weekend, we were wondering if you’d like to come with us?”

“But last time you told me you said it would just be you guys and no one else.”

“Well our Jungkoooookie here –”

Jungkook spun his head round to face him and elbowed his arm before he could finish his sentence. There were honestly times when he felt like Jimin ran his mouth too far and didn’t know when to stop talking, it was both a good and bad trait he possessed.

“So are you coming?” Jimin asked, clutching his pained arm that Jungkook had hit, and a few moments later replicated the action.

“Uh, sure?”

“Taehyung, do you wanna come with us?”

Hyunjung looked at Taehyung with anticipative eyes, but he shook his head straightaway. “I have stuff to do, sorry.”

“Alright. Just tell us if you change your mind,” Jimin told him.

Taehyung nodded in appreciation, but he wasn’t the type to go out in the weekends, neither was Hyunjung yet she was still planning on going. Very soon they had to go their separate directions to their classes. Hyunjung walked through the doors of her geography classroom and sat down in her allocated seat.

The only motivation she had for the remaining hour and a bit was that this was her last lesson until she went home.

*  *  *  *  *  *

If Taehyung had candy for every time his younger brother said;

“Hyuuuuung…”

He would be drowning in it.

Taehyung kept his eyes on the page of the book he was reading and didn’t take notice of Taewon’s attempts to grab his attention. “What do you want?”

Taewon sat down next to Taehyung. “I want to ask something.”

“Go on.”

“You know Hyunjung noona?”

“What about her?”

“She’s your friend right?”

“She is.”

“Will she come round soon?”

“Why do you care?”

“She’s the only friend that you’ve invited at the house,” he said. “Aren’t you lonely?”

Taehyung looked up momentarily but immediately flicked his eyes back down. “No.”

Taewon rolled his eyes and jumped off his seat. He looked back at his older sibling whose attention was still focused on the page of his book. “You always say no when I ask something like that.”

This caused Taehyung to perk his head up and he saw the sullen frown and sad eyes of his younger brother.

Taewon’s back was turned away from him. “You never tell me anything. I can never tell when you’re happy or not.”

A pang of guilt hit Taehyung and he reflected on his words. It wasn’t that he never told him anything, but he never really thought about how his younger brother felt whenever he asked him something. Taehyung was just used to giving people straightforward responses whenever they asked him a question he preferred not to answer. Taewon was frowning at him sullenly and he put his book to the side.

Taehyung sighed and ruffled his hair. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry okay?”

The frown on Taewon’s face slowly twitched into a grin, and very gradually, he burst into a fit of laughter.

“What’s so funny?”

Even after Taehyung was scowling at him, the laughter didn’t subside. He made a note to ask him why he was laughing so hard later, right now he couldn’t be bothered.

Their  dad appeared and leaned on the doorway of the living-room. “Taehyung, you have a visitor.”

Taehyung and Taewon looked at each other. Who would be visiting straight after the end of school? They both rose from their seat and made their way over to the front door.

Taehyung unlocked the door and was surprised to be face-to-face with a panting and flushed cheeked Hyunjung – did she run here?

She inhaled a deep breath of air. “I’msosorryIaccidentallypackedyourtextbookinmybagandtookithomebutIrememberedsopleasedon’tbemadatme.”

He stared at her in disbelief and tried replaying her speech in his head, but he couldn’t comprehend anything of what she just said. “I did not catch any of that.”

Taewon peeped his head in the doorway. “I heard the word ‘bag’.”

“That doesn’t help.”

She held out to Taehyung his chemistry textbook. “Sorry I accidentally took it home.”

“It’s fine.” He took it from her grip and tucked it under his arm. By then Taewon had slipped away, leaving the two by themselves standing outside the front door.